In the Kitchen with LeeAnn Sontheimer Murphy

In the kitchen today sharing coffee and recipes, and talking books, of course, with LeeAnn Sontheimer Murphy author of  Love Scars from Evernight Publishing

    Since my heroine, Cara, is a Texas girl, I have no doubt she can make great chili.   Although I'm not Texas born (although I've spent a little time down in the Lone Star state), I have a family heirloom chili recipe that I thought I would share.  The beginnings of this recipe date back to World War I when my grandfather was sent to what was then Camp Hood for Army training.  He fell in love with both Texas and the spicy food so when he returned to Missouri, years later, he brought his chili recipe with him.  Now chili wasn't a common dish outside of Texas at the time and the old school version was made with beef chunks rather than ground meat.  After his death, his sons tinkered with the recipe until my dad perfected his version.   Cara's version is really what I like to call "chili Sontheimer style" but here it is:

Ingredients:

2 big onions (chopped) 4 med. celery stalks (washed and chopped) 2-3 garlic toes 3-4 lbs. ground beef Salt ; to taste Pepper; to taste ½ = 3/4 cup Williams® chili seasoning 3  or 4 cans red beans 4 c water opt. chili powder 1. Get big pan 2. Spray pan w/ cooking spray 3. Pour canola oil in pan ; coat bottom of pan. 4. Turn pan on to med. heat 5. Chop celery finely (use food processer if available) 6. Chop onions w/ the garlic 7. Add/ Cook the onions, celery, and garlic 8. Add meat, chunk meat 9. Add pepper and salt 10. Brown the meat; then drain fat 11. Add Williams® chili seasoning and opt. chili powder 12. Add 4c water 13. Add beans Cook chili to preferred consistency ( watery, dry etc.) Cool, then cover and put in fridge Reheat and eat next day for maximum flavor Love Scars blurb: After marrying her sexy undead husband Will Brennan, Cara Riley Brennan thought her happy ending would last forever but she soon learned that the course of true love doesn’t ever run quite that smooth.  Just when she thought they were settling into eternal bliss, Sallie Hawkins, the woman who made Will into a vampire in the past, intrudes into their lives.  She’s wicked, she’s jealous, and she won’t stop till either Will or Cara is dead. Her psychic presence tortures them both in body and soul but when she arrives outside their home in the flesh things go from bad to worse.   Cara and Will realize that confrontation is inevitable. When the three meet for battle, they all may not survive and in the end, who lives and who dies is up to Cara who will do anything to keep her chance at a permanent happily ever after ending intact.